ETUC adopts resolution on coordination of collective bargaining

In March 2004, the executive committee of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) adopted a resolution on the coordination of collective bargaining and on worker participation, which includes its 2004 bargaining guidelines for ETUC member unions. Faced with what it sees as increasing unity on the part of European employers, ETUC is concerned about a potential weakening of workers’ bargaining and participation rights. It fears that this will be exacerbated by the accession in May 2004 to the EU of new Member States with less developed industrial relations structures.

At its meeting in Brussels on 17-18 March 2004, the executive committee of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) adopted a resolution on the coordination of collective bargaining for 2003-4 and on the participation of workers. This resolution forms part of the implementation of the action programme, Make Europe work for the people, which ETUC presented at its 10th congress, held in Prague on 29-29 May 2003 (EU0312208F).

Among other points, the ETUC action programme stressed the importance of strengthening the coordination of collective bargaining. The ETUC executive committee has been adopting annual resolutions on this issue for several years (EU0101291N). The new 2003-4 resolution states that recent developments have further highlighted the need for such coordination, citing rising unemployment and the continuing restructuring in all European sectors. It maintains that trade unions are faced with difficult bargaining positions and are being confronted with the danger of 'competitive wage dumping'. Meanwhile, the resolution states that employers and governments are increasingly coordinating at European level, and that they do not hesitate 'to misrepresent social agreements or government measures in one country to increase pressure on trade unions in the rest of Europe'.

The resolution continues: 'Moreover, trade unions in Europe have to address the fact that European institutions themselves are calling for even more wage moderation and reforming national collective bargaining systems in the direction of more decentralisation.' It adds that there is danger of the exploitation of workers in the new Member States following enlargement in May 2004: 'Finally, sharp wage differentials in the Europe of 25 risk being exploited with workers in the new Member States not receiving their fair part of the increase in economic welfare and productivity.' The resolution continues by summing up developments during 2003 and setting out ETUC's guidelines for collective bargaining and for increasing worker participation in 2004.

Trends in 2003

The resolution finds that trends in collective bargaining across Europe during 2003 were generally in line with ETUC recommendations, as follows:

• there was progress in terms of the ETUC guideline that the outcomes of wage negotiations should compensate for inflation and translate productivity increases into real wage increases to the maximum extent possible. In the UK, Denmark and Sweden, this guideline was even exceeded;

• the majority of trade unions succeeded in maintaining the purchasing power of wages. The notable exception to this was in Italy, where the government approved an inflation target below actual inflation for wages, but not for prices; and

• negotiations followed up an ETUC recommendation to improve 'qualitative' working conditions as part of collective agreements. For ETUC, these have produced significant achievements in relation to issues such as the provision of lifelong learning for workers (eg in Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and Portugal) and reductions in collective working time (eg in Denmark and Belgium). There has also been progress with regard to increases in national minimum wages (eg in the UK and some eastern European countries). However, there has been no such success in addressing the gender pay gap. Furthermore, public sector pay has come under pressure in some countries.

Guidelines for 2004

The ETUC considers that competitive wage dumping poses one of the major threats for the future. It cites the following key issues:

• a need to strengthen the qualitative side of collective bargaining, in particular with regard to equal pay and precarious employment. In this respect, ETUC considers that better relations with its affiliated European Industry Federations are crucial, since many of the qualitative elements of bargaining are dealt with at sectoral level;

• coordination on working time. ETUC claims that concrete experience confirms that prolonging working time and introducing more liberal models allowing overtime will not create more jobs, but will lead to higher unemployment. In this area, ETUC is calling for a revision of the EU working time Directive (93/104/EC) and an end to the individual 'opt-out' from the maximum 48-hour working week, so as to limit competition based on working time flexibility (EU0402203F);

• ensuring progress for all workers and the preservation of sectoral/multi-employer bargaining systems. ETUC is calling on all trade unions to oppose pressure from employers to decentralise collective bargaining. Key issues in this regard relate, for instance, to health and safety at work in the new Member States, where increased industrial production and the use of atypical working is threatening the well-being of workers, according to the resolution;

• continuing the campaign for equal pay. ETUC cites statistics that find that the average wage for women is 16% less than for men and reiterates its commitment to reduce the gender pay gap by 2-5 percentage points in the forthcoming years;

• contributing to the 'Lisbon agenda of the knowledge society'. ETUC calls on trade unions to continue to strive for and improve collective agreements dealing with training and lifelong learning for workers;

• continued efforts to build strong systems of collective bargaining in eastern Europe. In this respect, according to ETUC, the wider dissemination of EU social dialogue experience could serve to assist new Member States to increase the quantity and quality of bargaining and to create more collective bargaining structures to defend workers; and

• strengthening the practical application of bargaining coordination. This requires a more intensive exchange of information between trade unions on all aspects of collective bargaining and worker participation.

Participation of workers

The 2003-4 resolution underlines the importance of industrial relations and participation instruments in the present political and economic climate. It disagrees with the perceived viewpoint amongst employers and governments that participation and concertation policies are difficult to implement in times of economic slowdown or crisis, and their opinion that it is thus better for enterprises to be accorded more freedom to act unilaterally. On the contrary, ETUC is convinced that all processes of change or restructuring are better managed when worker participation, at all levels, is solid and well structured. In this regard, it stresses the key role of information and consultation. The enlargement of the EU further emphasises the requirement for concerted action.

Thus, ETUC calls for the following:

• a greater emphasis on working together to ensure the sustainability of the 'European social model', most specifically by the prompt revision (EU0405203F) of the 1994 European Works Councils (EWCs) Directive (94/45/EC);

• the regulation of worker (board-level) participation in the event of cross-border mergers along the same lines as the Directive on employee involvement linked to the 2001 European Company Statute (2001/86/EC) (EU0206202F). A proposal for a Directive on the cross-border merger issue is presently making its way through the EU decision-making machinery, and ETUC finds it unacceptable that this draft provides that in some cases the application of the national provisions on board participation in force in the country of the new company’s central management may result in the loss of existing arrangements governing participation;

• the integration of initiatives in the area of participation into the Commission’s Action Plan on modernising company law and enhancing corporate governance in the EU;

• a commitment to ensuring that codes of conduct, corporate governance codes and similar that are part of realising the Commission initiative on corporate social responsibility (EU0207205F) do not weaken workers’ rights to information, consultation and participation; and

• the prompt and correct transposition at national level in all 25 Member States of the Directive on employee involvement linked to the European Company Statute.

Commentary

ETUC is anxious to ensure that the union movement can formulate an appropriate, coordinated response to the increasing cross-border coordination of companies as a result of events such as international mergers and acquisitions and the ongoing globalisation of business. It maintains that if unions do not coordinate their activities more fully, workers’ rights may be endangered by developments such as decentralisation and reforms of collective bargaining systems. ETUC believes that while EU enlargement offers many advantages, it also poses serious challenges, including the problem of how to prevent a downward spiral of pay and employment conditions as employers chase the cheapest labour possible in an attempt to remain competitive. The new resolution adopted in March 2004, calling for coordinated action, is one way in which ETUC is seeking to guard against this. (Beatrice Harper, IRS)